The UK’s major cancer charity, Cancer Research UK, has been reported to the Metropolitan Police for being in breach of a recent law for “knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information”.
Patrick Rattigan, a naturopath and herbalist, has reported the charity to the Metropolitan Police’s charities investigation unit under the 2011 Charities Act.
He argues that the charity has persistently misled the public over claims that cancer is being beaten and that orthodox treatments are effective. He questions statements such as: “Thousands of people are now beating cancer every year. This is mainly because of better treatments, screening and early diagnosis.”
Mr Rattigan says statements such as this are “false and misleading”, and from an organisation that “can announce whatever it chooses without having to provide any evidence”.
He says the charity is out of the reach of the Charities Commission, medicine’s regulatory bodies, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), but it has fallen foul of the Charities Act, and specifically section 60 (I) (b), which bars charities from making “knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information”.
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